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Flushing Temporarily Reduces Nontuberculous Mycobacteria and Nitrifiers in a Full-Scale Chloraminated Drinking Water Distribution System
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DOI：10.1021/acsestwater.6c00438.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
Conventional flushing is widely used to improve drinking water quality, yet its effectiveness in controlling opportunistic pathogens and nitrifiers in full-scale chloraminated drinking water distribution systems remains unclear. This study evaluated microbial and physicochemical responses to weekly flushing over four months at four sites in a chloraminated distribution system. Start-of-flush (SOF) and end-of-flush (EOF) samples were analyzed using heterotrophic plate counts, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and qPCR targeting nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), Nitrospira spp., and complete ammonia oxidizers (comammox). EOF samples had lower mean alpha diversity than SOF samples, with the observed richness decreasing by 35.4%. Flushing reduced mean heterotrophic plate counts by 0.63 log10 and mean NTM and nitrifier gene concentrations by 1.4–1.6 log10. These reductions coincided with lower mean turbidity levels (from 16.9 to 9.48 NTU), mean nitrite concentrations (from 0.14 to 0.050 mg/L NO2–N), and higher mean total chlorine levels (from 1.9 to 2.4 mg/L as Cl2). However, these effects were temporary, and repeated weekly flushing did not produce clear shifts in bulk water microbial community structure. Overall, conventional flushing provided short-term water quality improvements but did not achieve sustained reductions in persistent microbial populations.
Keywords:
Anions
Bacteria
Biofilms
Drinking water
Electroosmosis
conventional flushing
drinking water
distribution system
nontuberculous mycobacteria
nitrifiers
quantitative PCR
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